I'm in the process of trying to prove a colleague that WEP is about the worst business risk in history, but I ran into a problem trying to crack a WEP key using a BackTrack VM.

Is it possible to access the wlan device from within the VM? From what I can tell, the VM tools act kind of like an adapter and only contain an interface to a physical ethernet device. Mapping the wireless device to a VM adapter shows up only as standard ethernet (ie. no monitor mode...).

I've tried this on VirtualPC, VMware and VirtualBox.

Thanks!yatz

"Live as though you would die tomorrow, learn as though you would live forever."

VM's and wireless often don't mix properly, because the VM's treat network interfaces as generic ethernet ones. Once upon a time, quite some time back, I think I managed to get a USB wireless working under a VM (VMWare) but decided it wasn't worth the trouble to keep fighting with it, so instead, I booted the laptop to the BackTrack bootable cd, and loaded my wireless there, instead of inside a VM.

~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

Virtualiztion doesn't care what kind of network card it is, it only cares that it's a network card. So it passes it through that way.

BillV and I have bought different versions of these: http://www.amazon.com/802-11b-Wireless- ... B002BFMZR8. I know it works with the Live CD. From what I understand I should be able to get it to work with the Virtual. I'm not sure how Billv got his working. (We had an off forum conversation about them).

Dale Pearson got the same device to work with a Bootable Backtrack USB stick.

If you're just looking for network connectivity, the physical hardware won't matter for a VM. However, if you're trying to work specifically with wireless (i.e. injection), you're going to need to have the adapter appear as a wireless connection in the VM.

dynamik wrote:If you're just looking for network connectivity, the physical hardware won't matter for a VM. However, if you're trying to work specifically with wireless (i.e. injection), you're going to need to have the adapter appear as a wireless connection in the VM.

Yeah, that's what I think my problem is. Right now I'm just trying to crack a WEP key, which will require having the adapter show up as a wireless device in the VM, as you say. If I can get this working, then I won't need another computer and can set up a mini lab on my primary box.

I have tested other network-based exploits like MS08-067 and a few browser-based ones, but the wireless attacks are more challenging (if not impossible) if you can't switch to monitor mode.

mambru wrote:We conduct our wireless pentests using Backtrack 4 running on VMWare Workstation 7 and the wireless adapter that chrisj and dynamik mention, and we have no problems at all with them, it runs smoothly.

This looks promising, but I don't know why a specific wireless device should matter since the VM layer sits in between. I suppose as a USB device the association can be directed strictly to the VM which can't be done with integrated or PCMCIA cards... Does this sound right? If so, then any USB wireless card should work, so long as you have the right driver and the hypervisor supports USB passthrough.

hayabusa wrote:it wasn't worth the trouble to keep fighting with it

I may want a dedicated box anyway for the reason you say, hayabusa. I was trying to avoid scrounging one up though since the ones we have lying around are lying around for a reason...

"Live as though you would die tomorrow, learn as though you would live forever."

from what I've read, the 2000mw one is using a different chip set, and I don't think it supports injection yet. I was going to get that one, until I heard it had a new chip set, and if I recall, it wasn't on aircrack's list of good chip sets. (I could be wrong).

EDIT:I did a quick look, looks like it's a mixed bag on injection. They're seems to be some instructions out there that will get it to work.

Last edited by rattis on Wed May 26, 2010 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

yatz wrote:This might be a good time to ask what exactly you mean by "injection." Is this referring to a MITM scenario or something more basic?

Packet injection, and I maybe wrong since I'm just learning about it, is injecting packets into a wifi connection. Usually used to cause de-authentication so you can generate the right kind of traffic needed to break the keys.

I am working on trying to get my usb wireless card to show up in vmware. Actually I have tried other usb devices and have not been successful with any devices and as far as I know the settings are right to detect usb. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is keeping me from learning different pen-testing things I need to know. I am running the latest vmware server (http://www.vmware.com/products/server/). Ideas???

Beckman11 wrote:I am working on trying to get my usb wireless card to show up in vmware. Actually I have tried other usb devices and have not been successful with any devices and as far as I know the settings are right to detect usb. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is keeping me from learning different pen-testing things I need to know. I am running the latest vmware server (http://www.vmware.com/products/server/). Ideas???

Just to dot all the I's. did you install the vwmare tools for the guest?

Oh and one other thing, the USB device can only associate to one device at a time, so it cannot be active in the host if you want it to be used in the guest. It may be a minor point, but something to keep in mind.

"Live as though you would die tomorrow, learn as though you would live forever."